Former New York lawmaker Chris Collins on Friday announced a comeback House bid in Florida’s 19th Congressional District, becoming just the latest high-profile Republican from outside the Sunshine State to make a play for the open seat.
Collins is known in the MAGA orbit for being the first member of Congress to back President Donald Trump’s first bid for the White House in 2016.
“We need to take our country back,” he said in an announcement video. “We need to make America great again, we need to be a country where our children and grandchildren can live the American dream like many of us did.”
The first act of Collins’ political career came crashing down in 2019, when he resigned his New York House seat and pleaded guilty to two felony insider trading charges. Collins started a 26-month prison sentence but was pardoned by Trump in December 2020.
Collins joins a crowded Republican field including former North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn and ice cream magnate Jim Oberweis, who spent nearly a decade as a state senator in Illinois and repeatedly ran for Congress there. Catalina Lauf and Ola Hawatmeh, who previously ran for Congress in Illinois and New York, respectively, are also vying for the seat.
The ruby-red seat is being vacated by Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who is running for Florida governor. Candidates hoping to win it will need the coveted Trump endorsement. Collins is flexing his early support of the president in an effort to reenter national politics with his blessing.
“From DAY ONE, I had Trump’s back,” Collins wrote Friday on X. “I’m Chris Collins. Successful businessman. The original Trump conservative. I helped President Trump start the fight in 2016. I’m running for Congress to help him finish it.”
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